Privacy Policy

Protecting your personal details on h2oservices.com

Last updated: September 2011

www.h2oservices.com is brought to you by Sutton and East Surrey Water Services (hereafter referred to as SESWS). SESWS believes it is important to protect your privacy and we are committed to giving you a personalised service that meets your needs in a way that also protects your privacy. This policy explains how we may collect information about you and then use it to meet your needs. It also explains some of the security measures we take to protect your privacy. You should read this policy in conjunction with the product and Website Terms and Conditions.

When we first obtain personal information from you, or when you take a new service or product from us, we will give you the opportunity to tell us if you do or do not want to receive information from us about other services or products (as applicable). You can normally do this by ticking a box on an application form or contract. You may change your mind at any time by emailing us at membership@waterplc.com. Some of the personal information we hold about you may be 'sensitive personal data' within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998 – for example, information about your health or ethnic origin.

1. Collecting information
We may collect personal information about you from a number of sources, including the following:

• from you when you agree to take a service or product from us, in which case this may include your contact details, date of birth, how you will pay for the product or service and your bank details
• from you when you contact us with an enquiry or in response to a communication from us, in which case this may tell us something about how you use our services
• from documents that are available to the public, such as the electoral register

2. Using your personal information
2.1 SESWS will use your personal information for the following purposes:

1. to identify you when you contact us;
2. to help identify accounts, services and/or products which you could have from us from time to time;
3. to help administer, and contact you about improved administration of, any accounts, services and products we have provided before, or provide now or in the future;
4. to carry out marketing analysis and customer profiling (including with transactional information), conduct research, including creating statistical and testing information;
5. to help to prevent and detect fraud or loss;
6. to contact you in any way (including mail, email, telephone, text or multimedia messages) about products and services offered by us unless you have previously asked us not to do so;

2.2 We may monitor and record communications with you (including phone conversations and emails) for quality assurance and compliance reasons.

2.3 Where you give us information on behalf of someone else, you confirm that you have provided them with the information set out in these provisions and that they have not objected to such use of their personal information. Where you give us sensitive data about yourself or another person (such as health details or details of any criminal convictions) you agree (and confirm that the other person has agreed) to our processing such information in the manner set out in these provisions.

3. Protecting information
We have strict security measures to protect personal information. This includes following certain procedures (for example, checking your identity when you phone us) and encrypting (encoding) data on our websites.

4. The internet
4.1 If you communicate with us using the Internet, we may occasionally email you about our services and products. When you first give us personal information through our website, we will normally give you the opportunity to say whether you would prefer us not to keep you informed of other products and services by email. However, you can always send us an email (at the address set out below) at any time if you change your mind.

4.2 Please remember that communications over the Internet, such as emails and webmails (messages sent through a website), are not secure unless they have been encrypted. Your communications may go through a number of countries before they are delivered – this is the nature of the Internet. We cannot accept responsibility for any unauthorised access or loss of personal information that is beyond our control.

4.3 We may use 'cookies' to monitor how people use our site. This helps us to understand how our customers and potential customers use our website so we can develop and improve the design, layout and function of the sites. A cookie is a piece of information that is stored on your computer's hard drive, which records how you have used a website. This means that when you go back to that website, it can give you tailored options based on the information it has stored about your last visit. You are able to set your computer to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. See Section 5 below for information on how to do this.

4.4 If you do not want us to use cookies in your browser, you can set your browser to reject cookies or to tell you when a website tries to put a cookie on your computer. However, you may not be able to use some of the products or services on our website without cookies.

5. Managing cookies in different browsers

How to accept cookies

Netscape Communicator 8.0
Official support for Netscape Communicator ended March 1 2008. The last English language version was 9.0.0.6, available at browser.netscape.com/releases.

1. From the menu choose Tools
2. Then Options and open the Site Controls panel
3. On Sites List tab select Master Setting (trust level) to change
4. In Web Features the default setting is Allow cookies, which you can change

Internet Explorer 6.0
1. From the menu choose Tools
2. Then Internet Options
3. Click the Privacy tab
4. Move the slider to select the level of privacy you prefer, or click Advanced for customised settings

Internet Explorer 7.0 and 8.0
1. From the menu choose Tools
2. Then Internet Options
3. Click the Privacy tab
4. Move the slider to select the level of privacy you prefer, or click Sites or Advanced for customised settings

FireFox 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0
1. From the menu choose Tools
2. Then Options
3. Click the Privacy icon
4. Tick the check box for Accept cookies from sites

Safari 5.0 (Apple Macintosh)
1. From the menu choose Safari
2. Then Preferences
3. Click the Security icon
4. A cookie section allows you to block or accept cookies

Safari 5.0 (PC Windows)
1. From the menu choose Edit
2. Then Preferences
3. Click the Security icon
4. A cookie section allows you to block or accept cookies

How to delete cookies
To remove cookies follow the steps in this section. Do not try to edit the cookies file on your computer.

Netscape Communicator 8.0
1. From the menu choose Tools
2. Then Options and open the Privacy panel
3. Click the Cookies category
4. Click the View Cookies button. The Stored Cookies window opens with a list of all the cookies stored on your computer
5. Select one or more cookies and click Remove Cookie or Remove All Cookies

Internet Explorer 6.0
1. From the menu choose Tools
2. Then Internet Options
3. On the General tab click Settings, then View Files
4. Select a cookie and click Delete

Internet Explorer 7.0 and 8.0
1. From the menu choose Tools
2. Then Internet Options
3. On the General tab, under Browsing history click Settings
4. Click View files
5. Click the Name column heading to alphabetically sort the files
6. Scroll down to files that begin with the prefix cookie: – all cookies have this prefix, and they usually contain the name of the website that created the cookie
7. Right-click to delete a cookie you want to remove
8. Close the window, then click OK twice to return to the browser window

FireFox 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0
1. From the menu choose Tools
2. Then Options
3. Click the Privacy icon and then Show Cookies
4. Select a site from the list and click Remove Cookie(s)
5. To remove all sites click Remove All Cookies

Safari 5.0 (Apple Macintosh)
1. From the menu choose Safari
2. Then Preferences
3. Click the Security icon and then Show Cookies
4. Select a cookie from the list and click Remove
5. To delete all cookies click Remove All

Safari 5.0 (PC Windows)
1. From the menu choose Edit
2. Then Preferences
3. Click the Security icon and then Show Cookies
4. Select a cookie from the list and click the Remove button
5. To delete all cookies click Remove All

If you are not using any of the above browsers, then select 'cookies' in the 'Help' function for information on where to find your cookie folder.

If you have any doubts or do not use any of the above systems please refer to www.allaboutcookies.org, which explains in detail how cookies work and how they can be managed.

6. Links
This website may contain links to other sites or recommended suppliers. Please remember that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of these other sites. This privacy policy applies only to information collected on this website.

7. Changing the information you receive from us
You may change the type of material sent to you at any time. Sutton & East Surrey Water Services allows you to select which products you wish to receive information about, and to cancel any previous expressions of interest in particular areas. If you wish to take advantage of this, please either write to us at Customer Services Manager, 59 Gander Green Lane, Cheam, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 2EW or email us at membership@waterplc.com.

8. Amendment and retention of information
Please advise us in writing as to any changes in your circumstances. We will then amend your details as required. We are, however, obliged and permitted by law and regulation to retain certain types of data for a minimum period of time. The minimum period of time tends to be for six years but can be longer if the statute or regulation requires.

9. Further information
If you would like any more information or you have any comments about our privacy policy, please either write to us at Customer Services Manager, 59 Gander Green Lane, Cheam, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 2EW. Or email us at membership@waterplc.com.

We may amend this policy from time to time, in which case we will publish the amended version on our website. This policy applies to personal information we hold about individuals.